1 Forms

 

STARTING THE FORMS

      The plans arrived on Friday just in time for the long Labor Day weekend.  I’ve read through the information supplied with the plans (which was very little) and began cutting the 16 paper forms and spray-mounting them to 1/2″ MDF.  Currently the pieces are roughly cut from the MDF sheet and will be further cut and sanded throughout the weekend.  In total i estimate about 4-5 hours to cut-mount-cut and sand the forms.  I’ve contacted CLC because I believe a sheet is missing from the plans containing the stem forms, hopefully that is resolved shortly and doesn’t hold up the process.

FINISHING THE INTERNAL FORMS

     Today I finished sanding the forms to shape.  It took roughly 4 hours to cut, paste, rough-cut, and sand the forms over the course of a week completing the final sanding in groups of 4 forms after work each night in the company’s model shop.  Matt from CLC responded regarding the missing manual which he promptly placed in the mail yesterday.  Until I receive the manual i’m holding off on progressing in case i’ve missed a step.  For now i’ve cleaned up the shop and will hopefully order the (2) 4′x8′ plywood panels for the hull.

FINISHING THE EXTERNAL FORMS    

     Now that i’ve read the once missing manual i’ve realized that i need external forms as well as the internal forms already made.  These patterns were not in the plans (which CLC is now clarifying with Nick) so I had to draft them by first establishing a reference line and then laying out/aligning each of the needed forms on 1/2″ MDF.  Then I could offset the forms out 4mm to account for the hull plywood and created a rib that represented the exterior shape/size of the hull.  Then to help make them stand up during assembly I created small 3″ by ‘form width’ bases to glue each external form to.

     In addition to finishing the forms i also received the 2 plywood sheets ordered last week.  I cut each sheet into (3) 16″ strips as per the suggested diagram in the manual.  The intention was to scarf the sheets end-to-end this weekend but I overlooked the need for epoxy at this step.  I had originally not planned on ordering the epoxy for another month but instead had to place that order today and again i must wait for the order to arrive.  The initial plan to spread out the larger cost purchases over the course of the project isn’t working as planned.  All thats left to purchase is the fiberglass/carbon-kevlar and wood to strip the deck.